The other day at the club, playing with one of my favorite partners, I picked up the following hand in 4th seat, white versus red:

South

♠

1074

♥

1065

♦

AQ54

♣

Q96

W

N

E

S

3♣

3♦

P

?

What's your call?

Marvelling at our incredible diamond fit, and holding what looked like a stopper, I could count 7 tricks. Partner must have two more for me, right? I confidently bid 3NT, which passed out.

South

♠

1074

♥

1065

♦

AQ54

♣

Q96

W

N

E

S

3♣

3♦

P

3NT

P

P

P

On the lead of the ♣5, dummy came down:

North

♠

K96

♥

Q98

♦

KJ10762

♣

4

South

♠

1074

♥

1065

♦

AQ54

♣

Q96

W

N

E

S

3♣

3♦

P

3NT

P

P

P

Focused on counting my tricks, I completely missed the dearth of high-cards in dummy. Of course what did it matter, really? Six diamonds, possibly 1 club, and if I were really lucky, maybe a spade. Down 1 seemed possible.

I called for the ♣4, RHO winning the ♣K. He now played the ♣10. What do you do now?

North

♠

K96

♥

Q98

♦

KJ10762

♣

4

South

♠

1074

♥

1065

♦

AQ54

♣

Q96

W

N

E

S

3♣

3♦

P

3NT

P

P

P

If RHO started with ♣K10, then it didn't matter what I did unless I ducked and my LHO made a defensive error by not overtaking. If he had three clubs, my play also wouldn't matter unless he started with ♣KJ10 or ♣AK10, in which case it would be important to cover. But wouldn't he have led the ♣J from ♣KJ10? And if RHO had ♣AK10, wouldn't that mean LHO had preempted 3♣, unfavorable, on ♣J8xxxx? I decided to duck and hope for a misplay.

The ♣10 held, but RHO continued with the ♣J, LHO winning the ♣A. Had I played the ♣Q, the suit would have blocked and RHO would have had to guess how to get back to partner's hand (however, as you'll later see, it was pretty clear how to do so).

As LHO was running the clubs, dummy was getting squeezed. I pitched a spade, then a heart, and finally a diamond, again, my optimism getting the best of me wanting to be able to run all my beautiful diamonds as soon as I got in. LHO cashed the ♥A, and then shifted to a low spade. RHO won the ♠AQ and then ran all his spades. When all was said and done, I was down 9, the opponents having taken all 13 tricks! We almost received a late play since I couldn't stop laughing for several minutes.

The full deal is shown below:

West

♠

52

♥

AJ2

♦

83

♣

A87532

North

♠

K96

♥

Q98

♦

KJ10762

♣

4

East

♠

AQJ83

♥

K743

♦

9

♣

KJ10

South

♠

1074

♥

1065

♦

AQ54

♣

Q96

W

N

E

S

3♣

3♦

P

3NT

P

P

P

D

3NT South

NS: 0 EW: 0

I don't think I've ever declared a contract where the opponents took all 13 tricks. It wasn't a zero, however; one pair was in 6♣, making. Although the opponents can make 5♠ and 5♥ their way, no one bid it.

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